‘Healers’ nows cast their nets in churches

By Lillian Aluanga

On a stretch of 200 metres along Nairobi’s Haile Selassie Avenue stand at least four churches that breathe life into a once musty row of warehouses.

Tucked into a corner of the Kenya Planters Co-operative Union building is the Deliverance Church, a few minutes is Nairobi Happy Church, Jesus is Alive Ministries and the Ushindi Baptist Church.

A casual glance down the street hardly reveals anything new apart from the usual noisy traffic, crowded pavements, haggard travellers and handcart pushers, who stream past the churches’ doors each day.

But a closer look reveals a phenomenon that is creeping up outside many churches in the city – particularly those along highways and busy streets.

Outside the ‘sanctuaries of hope’ are dusty fliers pinned onto poles and tree trunks with scrawled names and mobile telephone numbers.

The numbers are not help lines to the church’s counselling services, but ‘doctors’ - from as far as Tanzania and Zanzibar who claim to have alternative solutions to myriad diseases, troubled relationships, infertility, unemployment and poverty.

Preying on desparate souls

For commercial purposed, it makes sense for the ‘doctors’ to advertise their services, what is puzzling is that the fliers are increasingly finding their way to doorsteps of institutions that operate under a different belief system. While some say the placement of the ‘doctors’ advertisements along churches’ paths is a coincidence, others say it is an indicator of yet another challenge that the Church is facing in an increasingly permissive society.

At the Haile Selassie circuit, a radius of about 100 metres encircled by churches also bears names of at least five ‘doctors’. Similar signs can also be found around Globe cinema, Ngara, Kawangware and Eastleigh.

"We have noticed the fliers but I think it means they (‘doctors’) are desperate for clients," says Ushindi Baptist Church pastor Francis Aziavula.

Inside the crammed room, which seats a congregation of about 250, a lunchtime prayer meeting has just ended. Many congregants, either unperturbed or oblivious of the fliers, hurry back to their chores relieved off their worries –– at least for that day.

As they troop out of the church, which sits atop a narrow flight of steely stairs, Aziavula takes a few minutes to pray with some members.

"Marriages are in trouble including those among church members and even the leadership," he says.

Incidentally, solutions to broken marriages are among those offered by the famed ’doctors’.

Says University of Nairobi’s Olungah Owuor. The anthropologist, says although many churches are founded on the premise of offering hope, some congregants are willing to explore ‘pragmatic’ solutions to their problems.

So what makes it possible for groups considered to operate under different spiritual realms fish for clients on similar grounds?

"Increased social problems are driving many to despair,’ he says.

While acknowledging that those offering solutions may target the Church based on a different belief system, Aziavula says it is prudent to establish reasons the fliers are finding their way to church doorsteps.

"It boils down to doctrine. Many churches have deviated from spiritual matters and are more of business entities. We are selling bottles of anointing oil, scarves and handkerchiefs which are supposed to ‘activate’ miracles or blessings in someone’s life," he says.

This, he says, has given rise to a lack of grounding on biblical principles that should guide one on where to seek solutions when in trouble.

"We must be careful as Christians not to tread the path of sorcery by overemphasising use of some of these items because then we are no different from those giving charms," he says.

Aziavula argues that those offering solutions that are not in tandem with biblical teachings are capitalising on a loophole in churches.

While clarifying that there is nothing wrong with the use of anointing oil, since it is biblical, Aziavula takes issue with the manner in which it has been commercialised in some instances.

"We have turned some of these items into instant miracle providers and relegated the importance of prayer and fasting when seeking answers from God. So what happens to a believer who has been promised a miracle after use of the oil which isn’t forthcoming?" he asks.

He argues that although the apostle Paul in the Book of James quotes the use of anointing oil to pray for the sick, it is accompanied by specific mention of prayer.

The neighbouring Nairobi Happy Church pastor Bernard Bwala shares his views.

Why the dash for healers

"I have been here for about six years but this pasting of fliers near churches is a recent phenomenon", he says. Bwala says besides crumbling marriages, broken relationships and infertility another reason the ‘doctors’ may consider churchgoers as potential clients is the quest of many for material things.

Adds Aziavula: "We have romanticised miracles, signs, wonders and prosperity and forgotten to teach basic biblical principles and the message of salvation."

A ‘doctor’ whose name is among those tagged onto a pole outside the churches says her colleagues have often been unfairly judged.

"I never even knew my fliers were outside the churches. I gave them to someone for distribution and had no control over where they were pasted," she says. A visit to her premises –– a rugged building with no visible name and a khat kiosk at the entrance –– is preceded by a phone call and instructions on where to meet an emissary who then escorts you to the ‘doctor’s’ office.

"I have been trained to do this work in Tanzania where we are officially recognised. It is a skill handed down from generations and not something we are simply making up," says the doctor who swears by the effectiveness of her treatments.

The ‘doctor’, a Tanzanian, denies specifically targeting churches and says her services are open to anyone. seeking help. She singles out remedies for bareness and virility as among the most sought after.